Alchemy

[Faith Augustin]

30th Saun, 717

As a rule, Padraig didn't particularly have a sweet tooth ~ he much preferred savory things and he enjoyed a dessert where there was a zing or touch of citrus or bitter. Lime, lemon, those kinds of things were much more his taste than overly sweet. Over the time they had been together, she had of course grown to know his tastes and, as a rule, she did pretty well. That afternoon as he sat in their back garden with his head bowed over a book he was writing in, Faith leaned against the door for a moment and just watched him. The telescope she had bought him for his birthtrial and given him early so that he could study the suns had been an enormous success and she smiled as she made her way over to him. She had a plate in one hand and a small wrapped box in the other, both of which she put down on the table as she sat next to him. Perched on the plate, was a single cupcake. It was large as cupcakes went, and looked to be the sort of rich chocolate cake which he found overly sweet with a thick and rich butterscotch or toffee icing, judging by the look of it. Of course, it was expertly made and looked it yet it wasn't what she would normally prepare as a dessert for him.

"I read a book," Faith said, slipping her hand into his and leaning over to kiss him. "It said that a traditional Scalvoris birth-trial cake is rich and sweet. Usually made with chocolate and butterscotch sweetened with honey. So I did that. Happy birthtrial." Unashamedly, Faith took a spoonful of the cake, making sure to get every section of it and handed it to him. As he ate it, of course, he'd realise that it tasted nothing at all like it looked. It was like he was eating a light lemon mousse, not a chocolate cake. The rich, thick and gooey icing was, in fact, a crunchy biscuit. It tasted, fundamentally, like his favorite dessert. Faith couldn't help but grin as she watched him. "I worked out a way to make it look like what it isn't. It's alchemy, I thought. Transforming something into something else." There was no doubting it, Faith was highly pleased with this step in her baking ability.

Yet, it led to something else, or had come from such. "I was thinking about your birth-trial and I wanted to show you, to commemorate I suppose, what you've done. What we've done together. So, this is for you."

She slid across the box which she'd wrapped up. It was heavy and, when he opened it there was a beautifully crafted wooden box which opened up. The hinges and the small lock was silver. Inside it were two things. First, a small silver key to open and lock the box and next to that a small oblong shaped piece of silver which would nestle into the palm of his hand, engraved with his initials. Should he lift and examine it, he would see that either side of it opened up, he could slide out three small tools one side, and three the other. Scissors, a sharp knife, a screwdriver, those kinds of thing.

As he looked at it, Faith smiled slightly and explained in a very calm voice which hid a million emotions, but none from him. "I don't want our baby to be born into a home where my slave collar and chains are. Even hidden, they were here. So I had them melted down and made into these things for you." With a smile at him, she motioned to the box. "I thought we could store things, memories and things, in the box and since you will be the kind of father to fix things, you'll need a few tools here and there. So I transformed something into something else." She nodded to the telescope and the notebook.

"Come on then, professor. Show me what you're doing?"

Off Topic

30gn deducted and all silver slave stuff removed from ledger

[Padraig]

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Padraig had more tools, notes and equipment scattered around him on the grass on placed on bits of wood or cloth than he could reasonably use in one sitting. But he was making a good effort. It was a nice trial so far, though it was bound to get hotter once the second sun came round again to trail after the first. He'd driven a handful of metal rods into the ground so he could observe the shadows they cast as either or both of the suns traced their paths across the sky. It wasn't easy, working that way. Snowball was a curious pony and he'd had to chase the troublesome little fellow off more than once. It was a strange time to study the heavens, Saun, when the skies never grew dark and the only stars one ever saw were the two suns of Idalos. And yet it was the perfect time to focus on just one or two stars, without the distractions brought by countless others.

When Faith joined him and put the little cake down beside him, he smiled, set aside his notes and reached up to take her hand. "The Scalvorians do like their sweets, don't they?" he said with a smile as she wished him a happy birth-trial. "We've already celebrated that, you know," he reminded her, but took the small cake and bit into it. It was startling and not what he expected. He frowned at first, as after all when the mind expects one thing and what occurs is another, it could be disconcerting. Still, he eyed the cake in a new light and took another bite. "It's delicious Faith. I'd expected it to be anyway but this is something else entirely. That's magic, and you're getting better and better at it all the time."

"You've given me a gift already, remember?" he said when she handed him the box, and glanced at the equipment all around them. 'And far more than is reasonable." It was said with a smile however and keeping what Faith said in mind, he opened up the box. He wasn't sure what it was at first, except that it looked like a marvel. And as for her, she hid her emotions from others all too well. But not from him. The slave collar and chains..."You had them melted?" he asked as she showed him how to open the thing up and release any number of tools. The tool, the box, the key, all perfect. "It's wonderful. I'd never have thought of doing that. Given the opportunity I might have thrown those things in the sea. But this is much better. Thank you, Faith."

As for what he was doing, well, it was complicated. "At the moment, I'm observing the path of the suns by observing the shadows cast by the stakes in the ground. Distance, speed, curvature. Saun is a rare opportunity in that regard. If I could stay awake during a full trial, or several in a row, I might learn even more." One of the things he might be able to discover, he told her, was just how round the world of Idalos was, if it was indeed. And if, in being round, it was perfectly so like a perfect sphere, or more irregular in the way that an egg was.

[Faith Augustin]

That he liked the cake gave her more pleasure than she could reasonably explain and so she contented herself with smiling and holding on to his hand. The frown on his face told of his surprise and then, as his expression cleared, her smile grew. She shook her head, though, when he said it was magic. "Not at all. It's science, just used to trick the senses is all. You taught me it, when you served me ice cream that melts in the cold and showed me solid liquid. It's just that sort of thing, alchemy." Looking down at their hands together, her eyes took on a wistful look. "It's what you do for me. What I do for you, too. Take something that seems to be one thing and bring out what it truly is." With a slight lifting of her lips in a self-depreciating smile, Faith turned her gaze to him. "The morning sickness is getting less. Not going, not yet, but certainly getting less. We tell pregnant women that it can last anywhere from thirty trials to the whole pregnancy, so I think I'm probably lucky there." It was amazing, and a little bit terrifying to her that on their next birthdays, they'd have a baby there with them. "My mother was a twin, as was her mother." Faith smiled at him, but the terror was winning out in that sentence, if she was honest, "I'm a twin. So's my sister." Her quip at the end was rather devoid of humour as she considered the possibility. Nope. Not going there. Instead, she sighed and looked down at their hands. That would be an adventure, she thought and gave a slight smile. "I vote for maintaining a determined use of the singular, just in case it makes a difference? Baby. The baby."

She'd given him a gift and more than was reasonable? Faith lifted her head and levelled a gaze at him which told almost as much as her words. "And you are going to suggest that I'm going over the top for your birthday? Really? Shall we look at that?" Nineteen in one, she'd never managed. "Besides, this isn't.. it's for us." For them it was, indeed, and Faith watched as he looked at the box she'd made and the multi-purpose tool which she'd had crafted for him. When he said that he'd throw them in the sea, those trappings of her slavery, her hand in his tightened. "Then they'd always just be what they were, just hidden away. Always waiting to wash ashore or get picked up by someone. This is taking something and transforming it into what it always had the potential to be. Like that cake, or us." Not just her, not any more. She recognised that they had both changed irrevocably because of their relationship and, for both of them, it was very much for the better.

Then, though, he told her what he was doing and Faith listened and considered. Her immediate impulse was to offer to stay up for the night for him; she could do so easily and had gone many more than one night without sleep. Without a doubt, though, there was no way he'd go for that even if she wasn't pregnant and, since they'd found out she was he was more cautious than usual with her. She pretended not to notice, he pretended it wasn't true, but it still was and they both knew it. However, he needed several nights in a row and Faith had an idea. "Well, why don't we do that? Make an adventure out of it. You and I, we can camp out here. We can take turns to get up, so one of us gets up every break, makes the records you need and then we're back to bed. That way, it's only every other break for either of us, and we're close by. We can do that, Padraig. Come to that, Luna will help, she'll be happy to. Katie, too." Cyrus' involvement was up to Padraig, Faith wasn't getting involved there. However, she gave a slight grin as she spoke, a challenge and an amused expression in one. "We can become a family of star gazers. It sounds fun." Though, she assured him, he'd have to tell them what to do because frankly, it looked like a lot of sticks in the ground to her.

[Padraig]

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"An alchemist, a good one," Padraig pointed out when she denied that her talents were in line with the level of magic, "is as often referred to as a practitioner of magic, as not." He smiled, popping the last of the small cake into his mouth. "Deny it if you like. This is magic." And if they somehow, often, practiced magic together? Then all the better. His talents were of use to her, and hers to him.

As for the morning sickness, he was gladder than he could express that the bouts of feeling ill in the morning were waning, becoming fewer and farther between. It made him feel helpless, knowing that there was very little he could do to help her in that regard. The suggestion that instead of just one child, she might be carrying more, caused his own stomach to do a somersault or two. He was growing fairly confident in his ability to rise to the occasion. But add a multiplier to the occasion? The anxiety was pure science. It increased exponentially. "We'll keep that in mind," he said and grinned. "One." And if it turned out to be more? More to love, more to care for and protect. And probably a panic attack or two along the way.

He laughed though and shook his head when she reminded him of her own birth-trial celebration. But still he argued. "It was nineteen made up for," Padraig insisted. "I'd say it was more than reasonable." The extent of it, he meant. And besides, as much as she'd seemed to enjoy it, the pleasure it had given him to do it, rivaled or exceeded it. Her description of the tool however, what it was and what it was now, seemed almost poetic. And he could do nothing but agree wholeheartedly. A transformation. From something that was a reminder of things neither could forget but had put firmly in the past, to something they'd use together. For each of them, for them together, and for their family to come.

Observe the suns in shifts? He hadn't considered it and never would have asked. And yet he knew that Faith, Katie, Cyrus and even Luna would be more than willing. In fact, some of them probably eager. "That's doable?" he considered, looking back at the stakes that he'd planted in the ground, and frowning, he jotted down a few notes in his book. "It's the shadows they cast. The stakes I mean. It's important to observe them over the course of not just one trial, but a number in succession. I've already discovered," he explained, "That the shadow cast at exactly mid-trial one time...it's position is just slightly altered the next trial, at exactly the same time." Which meant of course that it was more than just the suns revolving around Idalos, or Idalos revolving around them.

And it wasn't just that those variations might be expected, considering the changing of the seasons. It was more than that, as if there was a slight wobble, or an irregularity in the rotation or a deviation in the way Idalos was positioned on its axis. It was those things he wanted to learn more about, Padraig told her. And observing and taking notes over time seemed the only way to do it.

[Faith Augustin]

30th Saun, 717

As much as the thought of multiple births scared her, Faith couldn't help but grin at the look on his face. Her hand in his, silver eyes turned to gaze at his amber ones and she spoke as earnestly as she ever had before. "One." If it turned out that there were half a dozen in there, she considered, there'd be more than enough love to go around, more than sufficient of that. It was just the ability for the two of them to stay sane that she doubted. When he insisted that her nineteen birth trials was not over the top and was, in fact, more than reasonable. Yet her small gift was too much? There was only one conclusion and that was simple. "You are a most contrary man, you know." Her expression told him what those words meant.

"I meant to say to you, I've meditated and contemplated the third blessing from Famula. I'd like to, with your permission, put the next mark on you." It meant the same as it always had, she explained, but it now meant that neither one of them could be tricked or controlled into betraying the other. No manipulation could compel them to reveal secrets of the other. Faith didn't say anything, but she thought that he would like that. They were both fundamentally private people and the idea that this could increase their ability to speak or give information only to each other was something which she really appreciated. However, that was not the main thing, she told him.

"Once a Cycle, so every two seasons, I can call you to me or you can call me to you. When one of us calls, the other teleports there, to them. So if, for example, I got kidnapped in the middle of the street in broad daylight," Faith looked at him and her smile showed the range of emotions she felt. "then you use this and I am next to you in a trill. I can do the same back, call you to me. You have no choice in the matter, but I can refuse your call. I wouldn't, of course." Faith looked down at their hands held together and she smiled. "I'll do it as soon as the baby is born, too. Just in case." With a flash of mischief, she considered."I can mark two people. Just so that you know. One baby. One."

When they talked about others helping him, Faith looked at Padraig and gave a slight smile. He hadn't thought about it, wouldn't have considered it. She knew that without a doubt and so her expression was ever so slightly despairing. "We would like to help you. You and I can make an adventure of it, camp in the back garden and sleep in one bedroll. It will be like old times, the two of us and one bedroll will it not?" Faith grinned at him, mischief clear on her face. "Soon," she put her hand on her stomach and smiled, "I'll be so round, I can't fit in there with you. And we can snuggle. You'll like that." They had so much miscommunication and missed each other's signals constantly in those early trials. Yet Faith wouldn't trade them for the world.

He wanted to observe and over a number of trials. Faith considered it and offered, with a deadpan expression on her face, "I could draw up a schedule for us. All of us." Turning her attention to the sticks in the ground though, Faith wondered about what he wanted. "Is it just where the shadow is or the length of it, too? I know it makes sense to you, but I am not entirely sure what this lets us know or how." That was more than true enough, she had to say. "If we do this continuously for the next ten trials, will that work?" That would take them to the end of Saun, after all. Although, she had to wonder, "Or are you planning on doing this when there is just one sun to compare with?" In truth, Faith had to admit, she just wasn't entirely sure what he was finding out and so what he was comparing. It didn't matter, though, she was happy to help any way she could.

[Padraig]

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"Another mark?" Padaig asked with a raised brow. And yet he didn't seem surprised. It was expected that Faith would continue to gain Famula's approval, more and more as time went on. Such was the extent of her devotion. And yet he grinned. "Much more of this and soon I'll be covered, tattooed head to toe". But when she explained the reasoning, that it was more than a desire to keep what was sacrosanct between them, the real value of it was clear. If they'd had the marks, the two of them, when she'd been grabbed off the streets, it could have stopped her abductor in his tracks.

"Alright then," he said. 'Of course I'll agree." He wasn't sure he'd describe the act of watching shadow play across the ground for trials on end, as adventure. But when she maintained that she, in fact all of them, would be happy to help; and in fact would want to...well he'd already known it. But not everyone, in fact few were as interested in the minutiae of science in the same way that he was. He'd accept that help though. "There'll be more of you to snuggle with as time goes on. What's not to like?" he asked her.

And of course she'd make a schedule. He chuckled, shook his head, but there were questions. Good ones. "The length of shadows has more to do with the time of the trial than anything else. Where the sun is in relation to the thing that casts the shadow, whether its at one horizon or the other. The presence of a second sun complicates it. But it's also the angle of the shadow I'm interested in. How much that might change from one trial to the next, measured at the exact same time, each trial." As for two suns as opposed to one, he'd continue once Saun was gone, and the second sun with it. At least for a dozen trials or so, in order to understand the differences, and as a result learn more about the system of world and stars combined, and perhaps, something about the very shape and size of Idalos.

[Faith Augustin]

He'd be tattooed head to foot? Faith grinned and shook her head at him, lifting her wrists to remind him. The third mark of hers from Famula looked for all the world like a delicate black lace choker around her throat."Those are the ones everyone else sees. You see the Moseke one, too." The seedling which had appeared on her chest, over her heart had grown and now there was a tree growing up and roots reaching down. It was a willow tree and it's placement meant that, thus far, he was the only person to see it. However, as it grew with her devotion to Moseke, that was likely to change. "Plus, if you are covered in tattoos, then you will be irresistible to me." She moved from where she was sitting next to him to sit on his lap, her arms slipped around his waist and she held herself against him, leaning up to kiss him with a smile. "Just like now," she whispered, nestling into him.

Putting the mark on him was easy enough and Faith stayed there, in his arms and concentrated as she prayed. As she felt the connection deepen, she nodded her head. "It's worked. You can call me now. Don't, in case we need it. But you can. Can you feel it?" There was another thing that she needed to tell him, too, she said and she looked at him. There had been something on her mind the last few trials and she knew that he knew it. He'd asked her if she was alright, she'd told him that yes, she was, but she had some things to think about that she needed to make sense of. It had been tied up in the loss of a patient, something which always bothered her, always caused her to think things through.

"With this extension of the blessing, Famula has given me the ability to resurrect someone." Faith's gaze was serious as she looked at him. "I mean, there are limits, of course, she explained that it only worked if someone was injured and newly dead, not having passed over from disease or old age, for example. However, it posed her with a conundrum. The patient she had lost was a child and she had already used the ability on a young mother the trial before. The conclusion she'd come to about that was that she had done her best and that meant she had lost one patient, not two. Whilst she'd have tried to save the child in a triage situation, it wasn't one, so she was alright now. "The reason I'm telling you about it is one of practicality," Earnest eyes looked into his as she said that. "If something happens and someone has died, you can get me to you, using that blessing. I might be able to help. Don't hesitate, Padraig, will you?"

For all that it was a serious conversation, when he said that there'd be more of her to snuggle, Faith laughed. "You are terrible. When I don't fit in the bedroll and come to that, I take up all the bed and you have no choice but to hang off the side, that will be something not to like." Just to start, really, she was clear that what was 'not to like' was quite a lot, although she was teasing. "Then, of course, I will be grumpy. Difficult to live with. Emotional. Swollen. Temperamental and snippy. Prone to painting the worst case scenario." She kissed him gently and leaned her head against him.

He laid out clearly exactly what he wanted and Faith nodded her understanding. "It's like taking temperature every half break to check that the patient is responding how we think. Doing observations to note changes in respiration, pulse, that kind of thing. We'll do it. You'll have all the data you need and we'll have fun camping out." There would be no surprise when she added that she thought she'd make some snacks for them. A midnight feast. That would be fun, she thought and then they could turn their attention to making sure that all the correct observations were done and at the correct intervals.

[Padraig]

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"Will I now?" Padraig said, and grinned crookedly when Faith claimed he'd be irresistible, covered in marks. Hers, his. But he could feel it, yes, he told her. And just like the times before, the other marks she'd shared with him or even those he'd been granted straight from an Immortal, it would take time to grow used to it. But he'd also noticed lately that something had been on her mind. He'd left it, for the most part, knowing that when, if she was ready, she'd tell him.

Resurrection. The ability to do it was fascinating. In a sense, miraculous. Still, as a scientist it was a difficult concept to come to terms with. Loss was painful, that was clear. And yet, "Bringing life back to someone who's died," he said quietly and with a deep frown. "Doesn't it fundamentally change them in some way?" The longer dead, the more changed, he wondered. Any yet he really wasn't seeking an answer. He rather suspected that there wasn't one. This was new after all, and long term effects could only be known in time by observing any number of subjects and noting any number of variables.

But no, he wouldn't hesitate, he told her. The grin returned and he shook his head. "I've clung to the edge of the bed before," he reminded her. For very different reasons then, of course. But she could be grumpy and snippy all she wanted, he told her. It was a woman's prerogative, one in that state, as he understood it. "Yes, something like that. You monitor a patient to track their progress. I'm doing something similar with the paths of the two suns. Each, and both." And so, agreed. That's what they'd do. Him, Faith, Cyrus and Katie, even Luna. And by the end of Saun, perhaps he'd have something interesting to report to his professor and fellow students.

[Pash Raj'oriq]

Thread Rewards

Faith

Overview

One. Baby. (I’m team #twins, though, for obvious reasons. You’ve been warned.) This thread is very sweet, and I do enjoy how the both of you take care of each other in thoughtful, adorable ways.

Points

XP: 15 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
Gift: Cake (+2), Gift: Silver Tool (+2) Helping out with boring science stuff (+2)

Loot

Thanks for keeping your ledger!

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Psychology: Symbolic gestures can be very powerful
Psychology: Freedom is a long, slow process
Rhetoric: Analogy to make a point.
Rhetoric: Symbolism in speech
Rhetoric: Words have power

Non-Skill:
Padraig: Marked with Greater Servants' Mark

Padraig

Overview

Sorry, man, I’m on team #twins. It’s somewhat inevitable, eventually, though Padraig’s excitement is genuine and adorable. Unrelated: I can’t wait to see the results of your research! I enjoy how you all skillfully weave in whatever you're doing with so much cuteness.

Points

XP: 15 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
Studying the Suns +1

Loot

+1 handmade box with silver hinges, lock & key
+1 multi-functioning silver tool

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Mathematics: Angles and trajectory
Mathematics: Perfect and irregular shapes
Physics: Consideration of specifics
Physics: Shadows give clues to trajectory
Physics: Study two stars in isolation
Research: Techniques for recording movement of the sun(s)
Research: Need for meticulous attention to detail
Research: Observation by secondary means
Writing: Meticulous recording of results.

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